Please, can someone can help us solve our toilet mystery?

Our award winning Kohler toilet that we installed in our downstairs
bathroom has been acting up. We purchased (and installed ourselves)
this model a few years ago for our new bathroom because we have the
same one in the upstairs bathroom, and it always operated just
swimmingly. The new one downstairs operated just fine, too, up until a
few months ago, when it started backing up repeatedly.

The man from Roto-Rooter can't help us (although this did not stop
him from taking a couple of hundred dollars of our money). He came out
and ran a snake through the toilet twice, and then replaced the tank
valve with a valve that is supposed to allow more water to fill up in
the tank. Neither of these fixes worked for more than a week. He
suggested that for another couple hundred dollars, we should have him
come out and remove the toilet to look for possible obstructions, such
as a bottle cap or something similar that might turn about, thus
causing a blockage sometimes, but not at other times. We decided to
save our money, and removed the toilet ourselves.

However, when we did this we found no objects inside of the toilet bowl
outlet, and nothing obstructing the flow of water thru the toilet bowl.
We took the toilet outside and ran a hose through it and thru the
little holes around the rim, and the water flowed just fine. So,
confused, we put the toilet back, hoping that it would function
properly in the future. But no, it blocked up again, seriously badly,
within days.

I can't believe that there is a blockage in the sewer, as both our
upstairs toilet, which has always worked just fine, and the downstairs
messed up toilet, are connected to the same stack and go into the same
sewer. Also, the Roto-Rooter man said that if there were a blockage in
the sewer, we'd have sewage backing up into the lowest point in our
downstairs bathroom (that being the bathtub), which we don't have at
all. It's only the toilet that's causing trouble.

I'm sure that no one in my household is dropping things into my
toilet that don't belong there. Is my toilet haunted, or what?

"nogggin" wrote in message
oups.com...

Please, can someone can help us solve our toilet mystery?

Our award winning Kohler toilet that we installed in our downstairs
bathroom has been acting up. We purchased (and installed ourselves)
this model a few years ago for our new bathroom because we have the
same one in the upstairs bathroom, and it always operated just
swimmingly. The new one downstairs operated just fine, too, up until a
few months ago, when it started backing up repeatedly.



If by "backs up" you mean a flush doesn't clear the bowl contents, consider
telling each user to flush each individual deposit rather than waiting until
finished. If you wait till the end, there can be a very large amount of
stuff-- plus toilet paper in there-- that may not all clear completely due
to the low flush rate toilets the fools in Washington have mandated upon us

Cheap fix-- try it--- and report back ;-)

Edw.

"nogggin" wrote in message
oups.com...
Please, can someone can help us solve our toilet mystery?

Our award winning Kohler toilet that we installed in our downstairs
bathroom has been acting up. We purchased (and installed ourselves)
this model a few years ago for our new bathroom because we have the
same one in the upstairs bathroom, and it always operated just
swimmingly. The new one downstairs operated just fine, too, up until a
few months ago, when it started backing up repeatedly.

The man from Roto-Rooter can't help us (although this did not stop
him from taking a couple of hundred dollars of our money). He came out
and ran a snake through the toilet twice, and then replaced the tank
valve with a valve that is supposed to allow more water to fill up in
the tank. Neither of these fixes worked for more than a week. He
suggested that for another couple hundred dollars, we should have him
come out and remove the toilet to look for possible obstructions, such
as a bottle cap or something similar that might turn about, thus
causing a blockage sometimes, but not at other times. We decided to
save our money, and removed the toilet ourselves.

However, when we did this we found no objects inside of the toilet bowl
outlet, and nothing obstructing the flow of water thru the toilet bowl.
We took the toilet outside and ran a hose through it and thru the
little holes around the rim, and the water flowed just fine. So,
confused, we put the toilet back, hoping that it would function
properly in the future. But no, it blocked up again, seriously badly,
within days.

I can't believe that there is a blockage in the sewer, as both our
upstairs toilet, which has always worked just fine, and the downstairs
messed up toilet, are connected to the same stack and go into the same
sewer. Also, the Roto-Rooter man said that if there were a blockage in
the sewer, we'd have sewage backing up into the lowest point in our
downstairs bathroom (that being the bathtub), which we don't have at
all. It's only the toilet that's causing trouble.

I'm sure that no one in my household is dropping things into my
toilet that don't belong there. Is my toilet haunted, or what?


If you get disgusted and decide to replace it, definitely read the Consumer
Reports toilet test article. Seemed quite thorough. They had to make test
turds. I won't elaborate any further.

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:31:17 -0500, "Special Ed" ed@spl-edu wrote:

"nogggin" wrote in message
roups.com...

Please, can someone can help us solve our toilet mystery?

Our award winning Kohler toilet that we installed in our downstairs
bathroom has been acting up. We purchased (and installed ourselves)
this model a few years ago for our new bathroom because we have the
same one in the upstairs bathroom, and it always operated just
swimmingly. The new one downstairs operated just fine, too, up until a
few months ago, when it started backing up repeatedly.



If by "backs up" you mean a flush doesn't clear the bowl contents, consider
telling each user to flush each individual deposit rather than waiting until
finished. If you wait till the end, there can be a very large amount of
stuff-- plus toilet paper in there-- that may not all clear completely due
to the low flush rate toilets the fools in Washington have mandated upon us

Cheap fix-- try it--- and report back ;-)

Edw.


Or, he could just replace the Kohler with a Toto like we did. No such
thing as a low flush rate with a Toto. They could probably flush
cannon balls.

Dick

If it f;ushes fine using a bucket, then your rim is clogged, or the dip
tube isnt sending water down as it should

what happens if you flush with a bucket?

if it flushes fine then its the rim or bowl fresh water openings

if it doesnt then its a obstruction downstream/

when you had the toilet off did you try dumping a bucket of water down
the open pipe?

just went thru this with a friends toilet, fix took just minutes once I
identified hers flushed fine with a bucket

Excellent advice. We have to do that with our Kohler and that seems to
solve the problem

I read on the web a few weeks ago where the board that is in charge of
testing these devices or writing the test plan (I'm not sure which) has
FINALLY agreed on the dimensions of a standard 'deposit' when testing
these devices. The 'deposit' will consist of a thick mixture of
ingredients shaped in the form of a 'log'. The ingredients have the
same consistency and come from some type of cooking/baking supplies.
Wonders never cease to exist. You can give me one of the old toilets
that uses a million gallons to flush, any day of the week. ....LOL

We have a Toto in our basement which backed up.
It was finally determined that a clog in the city system was causing
the problem.
Once the city fixed their system, we've had no problem.
TB

I'm wondering if a bird's nest or other obstruction has fallen down the
vent- did RR snake vent? The upper part of stack could still be
clear, allowing upstairs toilet to flush.

On 10 Feb 2006 07:51:05 -0800, "nogggin"
wrote:


I'm sure that no one in my household is dropping things into my
toilet that don't belong there. Is my toilet haunted, or what?

What do you think doesn't belong there? What about all those girlie
things they advertise on tv. Fortunately, they're so vague, I don't
really know what they are, and don't want to.


Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

On 10 Feb 2006 14:36:47 -0800, "Sev" wrote:

I'm wondering if a bird's nest or other obstruction has fallen down the
vent- did RR snake vent? The upper part of stack could still be
clear, allowing upstairs toilet to flush.

Spoke to folks in South Florida the other day after a foot of rain,
frogs were jumping out of vents while the "ole-man" was up there
water-hosing the vent.

These were prolly "spring frogs", having grown up there.

Oren

"My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland
and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore
excused from saving Universes."

look harder: always have your roto rooter man pull a towel back
thru the commode with a closet auger and find the surprise inside.
history here suggests a plastic disposable spoon or a wooden stool
sample/popsicle stick. the lone snake is helpless against at least
these two items.
or at fluidmaster search for incomplete flush on the
troubleshooting page at:
http://www.fluidmaster.com/usa.html

after playing with the toilet tank, commode, garden hose running in the
sewer flange while the bathtub drains, looking around the sewer with a
couple of extension handle inspection mirror, and pulling the old towel
on the snake thru the commode trap, you could still have the
sledgehammer ready but first run a miniature security cameras thru that
commode trap:
SNAKE PINHOLE SONY COLOR CCD SPY CAMERA on eBay $289.

If it is a toilet with a Sloan pressure assist valve, they detect
backpressure and stop flushing instantly in the middle of a flush. If the
washer between the tank and seat has swollen for some reason and not letting
enuf water thru, that could be enuf to stop a flush. Or there could be
another obstruction.


"nogggin" wrote in message
oups.com...
Please, can someone can help us solve our toilet mystery?

Our award winning Kohler toilet that we installed in our downstairs
bathroom has been acting up. We purchased (and installed ourselves)
this model a few years ago for our new bathroom because we have the
same one in the upstairs bathroom, and it always operated just
swimmingly. The new one downstairs operated just fine, too, up until a
few months ago, when it started backing up repeatedly.

The man from Roto-Rooter can't help us (although this did not stop
him from taking a couple of hundred dollars of our money). He came out
and ran a snake through the toilet twice, and then replaced the tank
valve with a valve that is supposed to allow more water to fill up in
the tank. Neither of these fixes worked for more than a week. He
suggested that for another couple hundred dollars, we should have him
come out and remove the toilet to look for possible obstructions, such
as a bottle cap or something similar that might turn about, thus
causing a blockage sometimes, but not at other times. We decided to
save our money, and removed the toilet ourselves.

However, when we did this we found no objects inside of the toilet bowl
outlet, and nothing obstructing the flow of water thru the toilet bowl.
We took the toilet outside and ran a hose through it and thru the
little holes around the rim, and the water flowed just fine. So,
confused, we put the toilet back, hoping that it would function
properly in the future. But no, it blocked up again, seriously badly,
within days.

I can't believe that there is a blockage in the sewer, as both our
upstairs toilet, which has always worked just fine, and the downstairs
messed up toilet, are connected to the same stack and go into the same
sewer. Also, the Roto-Rooter man said that if there were a blockage in
the sewer, we'd have sewage backing up into the lowest point in our
downstairs bathroom (that being the bathtub), which we don't have at
all. It's only the toilet that's causing trouble.

I'm sure that no one in my household is dropping things into my
toilet that don't belong there. Is my toilet haunted, or what?